After the board's announcement, Herring issued a statement pledging to use the attorney general's office to improve "public safety, veterans services, civil rights, consumer and small business protections, and ethics in our public sphere," in Virginia. "Our guiding principle will be to put the law and Virginians first, instead of adherence to extreme ideology," he stated, heralding the end of the reign of conservative officeholder [[Ken Cuccinelli]] (R), whom Herring is to formally succeed in January 2014, barring a change in the outcome of the race.<ref>[http://bluevirginia.us/diary/9504/virginia-primary-election-results-live-blog ''Blue Virginia,'' "Virginia Primary Election Results Live Blog," June 11, 2013]</ref>

After the board's announcement, Herring issued a statement pledging to use the attorney general's office to improve "public safety, veterans services, civil rights, consumer and small business protections, and ethics in our public sphere," in Virginia. "Our guiding principle will be to put the law and Virginians first, instead of adherence to extreme ideology," he stated, heralding the end of the reign of conservative officeholder [[Ken Cuccinelli]] (R), whom Herring is to formally succeed in January 2014, barring a change in the outcome of the race.<ref>[http://bluevirginia.us/diary/9504/virginia-primary-election-results-live-blog ''Blue Virginia,'' "Virginia Primary Election Results Live Blog," June 11, 2013]</ref>

−

Herring's margin of victory was narrow enough to activate Obenshain's right, as the losing candidate, to request a publicly financed recount, which he did on November 27.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/27/virginia-attorney-general-recount-obenshain-herring/3766131/ ''USA Today,'' "Virginia attorney general race heads to recount," November 27, 2013]</ref><ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/mark-obenshain-mark-herring-virginia-attorney-general-race-recount-100407.html ''Politico,'' "Mark Obenshain to request recount in Virginia attorney general race," November 26, 2013]</ref><ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/virginia-attorney-general-race-mark-herring-mark-obenshain-100337.html ''Politico,'' "Mark Obenshain weighs recount in Virginia attorney general race," November 25, 2013]</ref> The chief judge of the Richmond Circuit Court will oversee the recount court as it examines the new vote totals submitted by localities. The three-member panel is expected to announce the final winner in mid-December.<ref>[http://watchdog.org/118291/virginia-election-results-3/ ''Watchdog Virginia,'' "Undervotes loom large in AG recount bid," November 27, 2013]</ref>

+

Herring's margin of victory was narrow enough to activate Obenshain's right, as the losing candidate, to request a publicly financed recount, which he did on November 27.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/27/virginia-attorney-general-recount-obenshain-herring/3766131/ ''USA Today,'' "Virginia attorney general race heads to recount," November 27, 2013]</ref><ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/mark-obenshain-mark-herring-virginia-attorney-general-race-recount-100407.html ''Politico,'' "Mark Obenshain to request recount in Virginia attorney general race," November 26, 2013]</ref><ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/virginia-attorney-general-race-mark-herring-mark-obenshain-100337.html ''Politico,'' "Mark Obenshain weighs recount in Virginia attorney general race," November 25, 2013]</ref> The chief judge of the Richmond Circuit Court will oversee the recount court as it examines the new vote totals submitted by localities the week of December 16. The three-member panel is expected to announce the final winner soon thereafter.<ref>[http://watchdog.org/118291/virginia-election-results-3/ ''Watchdog Virginia,'' "Undervotes loom large in AG recount bid," November 27, 2013]</ref><ref name=recountdate>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-ag-race-recount-slated-for-week-of-dec-16-as-campaigns-spar-in-court-over-rules/2013/12/04/03723632-5ce0-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html ''The Washington Post,'' "Virginia AG race recount slated for week of December 16 as campaigns spar in court over rules," December 4, 2013]</ref>

If Herring survives the recount, he will be the first Democrat to control the office in almost two decades.<ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/mark-obenshain-mark-herring-virginia-attorney-general-race-recount-100407.html ''Politico,'' "Mark Obenshain to request recount in Virginia attorney general race," November 26, 2013]</ref>{{SEO unique news update|Month=November 2013|Pending final decision on recount}}

If Herring survives the recount, he will be the first Democrat to control the office in almost two decades.<ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/mark-obenshain-mark-herring-virginia-attorney-general-race-recount-100407.html ''Politico,'' "Mark Obenshain to request recount in Virginia attorney general race," November 26, 2013]</ref>{{SEO unique news update|Month=November 2013|Pending final decision on recount}}

Line 98:

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On July 24, 2012, Herring filed paperwork with the secretary of state in statement of his plans to run for [[Attorney General of Virginia|attorney general]] in [[Virginia state executive official elections, 2013|2013]]. Incumbent attorney general [[Ken Cuccinelli]] opted to run for governor in 2013 instead of seek re-election as the state's chief law enforcement official.<ref name=ag13/>

On July 24, 2012, Herring filed paperwork with the secretary of state in statement of his plans to run for [[Attorney General of Virginia|attorney general]] in [[Virginia state executive official elections, 2013|2013]]. Incumbent attorney general [[Ken Cuccinelli]] opted to run for governor in 2013 instead of seek re-election as the state's chief law enforcement official.<ref name=ag13/>

−

Herring defeated one opponent, [[Justin Fairfax]], to win the [[Democratic]] primary election on June 11, 2013. He then faced Republican nominee [[Mark Obenshain]] in the general election on November 5, 2013. Herring was named the winner after the State Board of Elections certified the results of the race on November 25, 2013.<ref>[http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/12/4461029/seesaw-ag-race-in-va-goes-to-provisional.html#.UoOMvI3PbSc ''The Charlotte Observer,'' "Democrat Herring widens lead in Va.'s AG race," November 12, 2013]</ref><ref> [http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=SWR&map=CTY ''Virginia State Board of Elections,'' " Election Results – General Election – November 5, 2013," accessed November 13, 2013 at 7:40 a.m. CT] </ref><ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/herring-wins-virginia-attorney-general-race-elections-board-announces/2013/11/25/7b661082-55e7-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html ''Washington Post,'' "Herring wins Virginia attorney general race, elections board announces," November 25, 2013]</ref> Obenshain subsequently requested a recount, to be paid for by the public. The result of the recount is expected to arrive in mid-December.

+

Herring defeated one opponent, [[Justin Fairfax]], to win the [[Democratic]] primary election on June 11, 2013. He then faced Republican nominee [[Mark Obenshain]] in the general election on November 5, 2013. Herring was named the winner after the State Board of Elections certified the results of the race on November 25, 2013.<ref>[http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/12/4461029/seesaw-ag-race-in-va-goes-to-provisional.html#.UoOMvI3PbSc ''The Charlotte Observer,'' "Democrat Herring widens lead in Va.'s AG race," November 12, 2013]</ref><ref> [http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=SWR&map=CTY ''Virginia State Board of Elections,'' " Election Results – General Election – November 5, 2013," accessed November 13, 2013 at 7:40 a.m. CT] </ref><ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/herring-wins-virginia-attorney-general-race-elections-board-announces/2013/11/25/7b661082-55e7-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html ''Washington Post,'' "Herring wins Virginia attorney general race, elections board announces," November 25, 2013]</ref> Obenshain subsequently requested a recount, to be paid for by the public. The result of the recount is expected to arrive the week of December 16.<ref name=recountdate/>

When the Virginia State Board of Elections certified the results of the attorney general race on November 25, 2013, Herring was named the winner by a razor-thin margin of 165 votes out of 2.2 million cast.[4]

After the board's announcement, Herring issued a statement pledging to use the attorney general's office to improve "public safety, veterans services, civil rights, consumer and small business protections, and ethics in our public sphere," in Virginia. "Our guiding principle will be to put the law and Virginians first, instead of adherence to extreme ideology," he stated, heralding the end of the reign of conservative officeholder Ken Cuccinelli (R), whom Herring is to formally succeed in January 2014, barring a change in the outcome of the race.[5]

Herring's margin of victory was narrow enough to activate Obenshain's right, as the losing candidate, to request a publicly financed recount, which he did on November 27.[6][7][8] The chief judge of the Richmond Circuit Court will oversee the recount court as it examines the new vote totals submitted by localities the week of December 16. The three-member panel is expected to announce the final winner soon thereafter.[9][10]

If Herring survives the recount, he will be the first Democrat to control the office in almost two decades.[11]

Biography

Herring received a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and Economics and M.A. in Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. He also received a J.D. at the University of Richmond. Herring is an attorney at law.

Committee assignments

2012-2013

In the 2012-2013 legislative session, Herring served on the following committees:

2010-2011

Issues

Banning "Spice"

Herring introduced a bill for the 2011 General Assembly session to ban the synthetic marijuana, nicknamed K2 or Spice.

"There’s a reason stores are putting it on their shelves — because teens and young adults are buying it and smoking it," said Herring.

Synthetic marijuana was created in the 1990’s in a lab at Clemson University and has been available for several years, but a nationwide move to ban the substances is only now gaining ground. If the bill passes, Virginia will become the 11th state regulating the product.

Del. T. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, said he became concerned with "K2" after hearing reports from law enforcement about people coming into the emergency room after smoking it. One young man was "taken to the emergency room and couldn’t move his arms and legs," Garrett said.[12]

Elections

2013

On July 24, 2012, Herring filed paperwork with the secretary of state in statement of his plans to run for attorney general in 2013. Incumbent attorney general Ken Cuccinelli opted to run for governor in 2013 instead of seek re-election as the state's chief law enforcement official.[1]

Herring defeated one opponent, Justin Fairfax, to win the Democratic primary election on June 11, 2013. He then faced Republican nominee Mark Obenshain in the general election on November 5, 2013. Herring was named the winner after the State Board of Elections certified the results of the race on November 25, 2013.[13][14][15] Obenshain subsequently requested a recount, to be paid for by the public. The result of the recount is expected to arrive the week of December 16.[10]

Recount

On November 25, 2013, the Virginia State Board of Elections certified the results of the attorney general race and declared Mark Herring (D) the winner. According to the certified vote totals, Herring defeated Mark Obenshain (R) by 165 votes out of 2.2 million cast.[16][17][18] A publicly-financed recount was ordered for the week of December 16, and Obenshain conceded on December 18. Judge Beverly W. Snukals, oversaw the recount court as it evaluated the ballot submissions from localities. Ultimately, the court upheld Herring's victory. According to the official recount results posted by the Virginia SBE, Herring beat Obenshain by 907 votes- a wide margin, in comparison to 165 vote difference calculated prior to the recount.[19][20][21]

Under state election law, the trailing candidate can request a recount if the margin of victory is less than 1 percent. If the margin is over half a percent, the candidate must pay for the recount.[22] Local election boards had until November 19, 2013 to certify their results and pass them onto the Virginia State Board of Elections, who faced a November 25 certification deadline.[23]

A recount in race for state attorney general had not been without recent precedent - in 2005 now-Gov. Bob McDonnell ran for the office against Creigh Deeds. The first result showed McDonnell with a victory of 323 votes, out of over 1.9 million votes cast. Deeds went on to file for a recount, which began on December 20, 2005. After preliminary figures revealed 37 additional votes for McDonnell, Deeds conceded, giving McDonnell a 360 vote margin of victory.[22]

In the event of a recount, elections officials double-check and re-add totals from voting machine records. During the 2005 recount, the returns from nine precincts were also examined by hand.[24] The recount cannot take place until after the vote is certified by the Board of Elections. Once that occurs, the apparent losing candidate has ten calendar days to file a recount petition with the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond.

The recount court, which determines the procedures of the recount, consists of the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court where the recount petition was filed and two other judges appointed by the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Virginia. The court then appoints recount officials to represent the respective parties to the recount. Once all the votes cast are recounted, the court certifies the candidate with the most votes as the winner.[25]

Tracking the count

Late Tuesday night of election day - November 5, 2013 - Virginia Republican Party Chairman Pat Mullins sent out an e-mail congratulating Mark Obenshain (R), although neither he nor Herring had claimed victory or conceded. "We want to make sure all precincts are accounted for and results are accurate, all absentee ballots are counted and every Virginian who cast a provisional ballot has their voice heard," Herring said.[26] By Friday after election day, results were still inconclusive; it was reported that there were 8,363 absentee ballot requests in Fairfax County, but only 4,168 of those votes were counted. 50.3% is a very low percentage for return when neighboring districts 10 and 11 had a return rate of 88% and 86% respectively. With it being a heavily Democratic area, it was expected that the approximately 3,000 ballots that had not been counted were likely to result in Herring taking the lead. Another discrepancy was found in the total number of absentee ballots cast. A pre-election news story by WUSA-9 showed Fairfax County reporting over 24,300 absentee ballots case, while the state Board of Elections’ site had reported just 22,484 absentee ballots cast as of November 7.[27] By the end of the weekend it was reported that instead of absentee votes, the main problem in Fairfax began with a malfunctioning optical scan machine in the Mason Governmental Center on Columbia Pike. The machine began Tuesday in good shape but stopped working after 710 ballots had been cast. Those ballots were then fed into a working machine and voting continued on that machine. By the end of the day, that machine produced a total of 2,688 votes. When election results were counted, the county reported the 710 votes instead of the 2,688 votes meaning 1978 votes were left unreported. Bedford county also found sizable errors and added another 732 votes to the count after election night. The Republican leaning county added 581 of those votes to Obenshain.[28]

A major battle took place over provisional votes - ballots cast by people who did not have legally permissible ID at the polls. Voters who cast these ballots had until Noon on November 8 to show proper ID to their local election board and explain why they cast a provisional vote. Board of Elections staff also reviewed every provisional vote and it was up to the Board to accept or reject each ballot.[29] As of the evening of November 11, the Fairfax County Election Board had rejected 138 provisional ballots and accepted 172, with 183 left to evaluate.[30] Just weeks before the election the State Board of Elections initiated a purge of over 38,000 names from the voter rolls. Some local administrators reported finding hundreds of names that should not have been removed, which may have potentially increased the number of provisional ballots cast.[31] Both campaigns urged voters to certify their ballots to ensure their vote was counted.[32] Taking into account a rule change, the Fairfax County Electoral Board certified its results around midnight of November 12.[33] In the end, the board upheld 271 of the freshly scrutinized provisional ballots: 160 went to Herring and 103 to Obenshain.[34], boosting Herring to declare himself the race's victor, despite Obenshain's refusal to concede "the closest statewide election in Virginia history."[35][36]

Herring's original margin of victory was slim enough to activate Obenshain's right, as the losing candidate, to request a state-funded recount, which he did on November 27.[37][38] The recount began on December 16, and Obenshain conceded two days later in a news conference in Richmond. While the three-member recount court had not yet finished tallying votes, unofficial totals from December 18 showed Herring had gained almost 800 votes.[39] “It’s apparent that our campaign is going to come up a few votes short,” Obenshain told reporters.[40] His loss gave Democrats control of the office for the first time in nearly two decades.[41]

Race background

In March 2013, Governing magazine rated Virginia's open attorney general seat as "vulnerable" heading into the 2013-2014 elections because incumbent Republican Ken Cuccinelli was not running for re-election.[42]

The race to replace Cuccinelli began at the primary nomination stage; both Republican convention and Democratic election candidates drew primary contests. On May 18, two "strong fiscal and social conservatives"[42] -- state Sen. Mark Obenshain and state Rep. Rob Bell -- competed for delegate votes at the Republican Party of Virginia's closed nominating convention, which Obenshain won.[43] The nominee's late father, GOP politician Richard Obenshain, died in a plane crash during his 1978 campaign for U.S. Senate. Obenshain faced state Sen. Mark Herring in the general election. Herring defeated former assistant U.S. Attorney for Virginia Justin Fairfax in the Democratic primary election, which took place on June 11, 2013.[44][42]

Although Obenshain was considered the early front-runner, polls showed Herring leading by a very slim margin in late October 2013, a likely effect, or occupational hazard, for Obenshain, of sharing what had become a contaminated GOP ticket. One week before election day, at least two influential backers - Planned Parenthood and Independence USA PAC - hoped to widen the gap with roughly one million dollars worth of media spots lampooning Obenshain for his past support of a "personhood" amendment, which would have banned birth control and abortions regardless of the circumstances," in addition to his stance against increased background checks on prospective gun owners. Independence USA PAC was heavily driven by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The PAC had already invested millions into ads hammering "far-right" Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli for his affiliation with the National Rifle Assocation (NRA), and the buys against Obenshain sought to lump the lesser-known AG contender together with Cuccinelli, who was the most recognizable, and possiblly most troubled, candidate appearing on the party's statewide ticket in 2013. Meanwhile, the NRA went on the counterattack; the organization unleashed a $500,000 anti-Herring ad into targeted Virginia markets.[45][46] The NRA's assistance paled in comparison, however, to the $2.6 million infusion from the Republican State Leadership Committee into the effort to elect Obenshain, whom the committee viewed as the only hope for preventing Democrats from scoring a clean sweep of the state-row races in 2013.[47]

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Endorsements

Herring's 2013 attorney general campaign has been endorsed by The Washington Post, former Virginia House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Brian Moran, in addition to the following list of public officials[48][49][50]:

Campaign themes

2011

Herring's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Economic Development & Job Creation

Excerpt: "Innovation is a huge driver of economic growth. Science and technology industry jobs pay high wages and have high growth potential. Senator Herring believes we must take every action possible to make sure that those jobs are created in Virginia."

Transportation

Excerpt: "As our State Senator, Mark Herring has secured needed state transportation funding for infrastructure projects that have helped to alleviate congestion on some of our area's major roadways."

Education

Excerpt: "Senator Herring knows that education is the key to helping children achieve their full potential, ensure that our economy remains strong, and helps to build a workforce that is prepared to compete successfully in a global economy."

Open Government

Excerpt: "Senator Herring has been a strong proponent of common sense measures that promote transparency and accountability in government."

Military/Veterans Affairs

Excerpt: "Senator Herring strongly believes it is important to honor their service by ensuring that they have the full support of the state and communities throughout our Commonwealth."

Energy and Conservation

Excerpt: "Senator Herring believes that Virginia should be a national leader in the production and use of renewable energy."

Endorsements

2013

Herring's 2013 attorney general campaign was endorsed by former Virginia House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Brian Moran, and the following public officials:[56][57]